Digital divide has no place inside voting booth

FRED McKISSACK

Published
5:30 am CDT, Thursday, July 26, 2001

WHILE most television news shows have pursued Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., like a pack of wild Hardy Boys and Nancy Drews, plenty of significant stories have gone almost unnoticed. Among these is a recent congressional study that found poor people and minorities were three times as likely as wealthy Americans to have their ballots go uncounted in the 2000 presidential election.

The study, conducted for the Democratic members of the House Government Reform Committee, concluded that 1.9 percent of all ballots cast last November were not counted. That equates to 2 million votes. In the close election, they could have made all the difference.

But this isn't one of those "Oh, what a shame Al Gore got shafted" essays. It shouldn't be a partisan issue. Everyone should be rankled by disenfranchisement.

The study surveyed 40 districts in 20 states that use six kinds of voting equipment, from punch cards to advanced optical-scan machines. The uncounted rate was 7.7 percent among poor voters using punch cards; it was 2 percent in affluent areas. When an optical-scan machine was in use, the uncounted rate among the poor dropped to 1.1 percent; it was 0.5 percent in affluent areas.

Two of the poor districts that were analyzed -- one in Chicago, the other in Miami -- had uncounted rates of 7.9 percent. Both districts used punch cards. Alabama should be proud of its 7th District, where the uncounted rate was a mere 0.3 percent. The district, where 31 percent of the people live in poverty and 68 percent are people of color, uses modern voting technology.

This is the digital divide at work, and the divide has far-reaching consequences. It should boggle the minds of Americans of all political stripes that our voting technology in many areas is in such shambles.

We live in an age where technology has helped shape our daily routine for the better. Personal digital devices give people access to instant news, messages and the ability to buy everything from books to airline tickets. We can talk to our cars; hundreds of channels of television are pumped into our homes through thin wires or via satellite; movies and music are compact.

Many Americans are living better through technology. Yet technology and design, apparently, are not widely used to ensure our most basic right as Americans -- the right to vote.

Democracy isn't easy. Deciding on whom to vote for is difficult. It requires each of us to weigh the value of every candidate, every issue. The act of voting, however, should be easy. We have a national imperative to make it so.